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Packaging & Installer Architecture

Overview of NH Reader packaging and installer architecture

Packaging & Installer Architecture

NH Reader utilizes Tauri v2 Native Packaging (tauri build) for local builds of Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS packages. Packages are not signed or published by CI; there is no automated packaging workflow. iOS builds require macOS, Xcode, and Apple signing credentials.

🧭 Why Native Packaging Over Custom Installers

In earlier versions, a custom embedded installer was evaluated. However, custom installers in Tauri v2 present significant architectural challenges:

  1. Asset & Webview Bundling: Native packaging automatically links and bundles frontend static assets, webview loaders, and platform runtime dependencies into the output binary package.
  2. Elevation & UAC: Windows User Account Control (UAC) handling during custom installs often causes file-locking collisions and permission errors when updating program files.
  3. Uninstallation & System Registry: Native installers (NSIS and WiX) manage system uninstaller registrations, start menu entries, and desktop shortcuts cleanly through standard OS facilities.
  4. Mobile & Cross-Platform Alignment: Tauri’s native packaging toolchain cleanly supports Android APK packaging alongside desktop installers.

📦 Bundling Pipeline

flowchart TD
    A[npm run tauri:build:release / tauri build] --> B[SvelteKit build static]
    B --> C[Rust cargo build release]
    C --> D{Platform Bundler}
    D -->|Windows| E[NSIS setup.exe]
    D -->|Windows| F[WiX .msi]
    D -->|macOS| G[DMG & .app bundle]
    D -->|Linux| H[deb & AppImage]
    D -->|Android| I[APK]

Build Commands

# Desktop release build (bundles NSIS, WiX MSI, DMG, or deb/AppImage)
npm run tauri:build:release

# Debug desktop build (unoptimized, useful for rapid testing)
npm run tauri:build:debug

# Android mobile build pipeline
npm run tauri:android:init    # initialize Android studio project
npm run tauri:android:build   # compile standalone APK

⚙️ Configuration (src-tauri/tauri.conf.json)

Packaging is configured under the bundle key in src-tauri/tauri.conf.json:

"bundle": {
  "active": true,
  "targets": "all",
  "icon": [
    "icons/32x32.png",
    "icons/128x128.png",
    "icons/128x128@2x.png",
    "icons/icon.icns",
    "icons/icon.ico"
  ],
  "windows": {
    "certificateThumbprint": null,
    "digestAlgorithm": "sha256",
    "timestampUrl": "",
    "nsis": {
      "installMode": "both",
      "installerIcon": "icons/icon.ico",
      "headerImage": null,
      "sidebarImage": null,
      "languages": ["English"]
    },
    "wix": {
      "language": "en-US"
    }
  },
  "macOS": {
    "dmg": {
      "windowSize": { "width": 600, "height": 400 },
      "appPosition": { "x": 180, "y": 170 },
      "applicationFolderPosition": { "x": 420, "y": 170 }
    }
  }
}

🎨 Customizing NSIS & WiX Installers

Tauri v2 allows deep customization of Windows installers without breaking native stability:

  1. NSIS Installation Mode (installMode: "both"):
    • Gives the user a choice between “Install for anyone who uses this computer (all users)” or “Install just for me (current user)”.
  2. Visual Assets:
    • headerImage: 150x57 BMP header graphic displayed during installation. (Not used by NH Reader: the composed wide banner renders as a small left-aligned top-bar graphic in NSIS, so the option was removed from our config.)
    • sidebarImage: 164x314 BMP graphic displayed on the Welcome and Finish wizard pages. (The only visual asset NH Reader uses: src-tauri/windows/sidebar.bmp.)
  3. Custom NSIS Hooks (customLanguageFiles, custom .nsh includes):
    • For custom registry entries, environment variables, or custom styling.
  4. WiX Templates:
    • For corporate deployment, custom .wxs fragments can be injected into the WiX MSI compilation.

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